Villa Albertine has selected Abdelkader Benchamma to create a monumental work for the ceiling of the Ballroom at its New York headquarters, the historic Payne Whitney Mansion. The project, due to be unveiled in September 2026, forms part of the institution’s initiative to bring architectural heritage into dialogue with contemporary artistic creation.
The work, entitled Stella Terrae, will be a mural created in situ that will transform the ceiling of this emblematic space, conceived by the artist as a place for contemplation and observation of the sky. The project stems from a fascination with historical representations of the cosmos and draws on the Nebra Sky Disc, one of the oldest known representations of the heavens, and the Dunhuang Star Atlas, which records more than 1,300 stars.
The title Stella Terrae refers to a mysterious substance associated with meteorite falls, known as star jelly. Drawing on this imagery, Benchamma seeks to recover a poetic dimension of the sky at a time when outer space is increasingly conceived of as a territory open to control, exploitation and colonisation.
The project will also include figurative elements created in collaboration with American artist Raymond Pettibon, with whom Benchamma has worked since 2019. This collaboration continues a series of drawings produced by the two artists and establishes a dialogue between two artistic scenes on either side of the Atlantic.
The commission was developed in collaboration with the Centre national des arts plastiques (CNAP) and was selected from 225 proposals. The project is supported by the Sisley-d’Ornano Foundation, as well as the French Heritage Society’s New York Chapter and Ann and Bill Van Ness.
With this intervention, Villa Albertine continues the transformation of the Payne Whitney Mansion, bringing new contemporary artistic projects into one of New York’s most notable historic buildings. Overlooking Fifth Avenue, the Ballroom hosts artistic, intellectual and diplomatic events throughout the year.
Benchamma, who works between Paris and Montpellier, was a finalist for the Prix Marcel Duchamp in 2024, where he presented Au bord des mondes at the Centre Pompidou. In 2026, the Espai d’Art Contemporani de Castelló (EACC) presented a solo exhibition dedicated to his work, and between October and December he will take part in Villa Albertine’s residency programme in New York.
